Twangbanger
Grandmaster
- Oct 9, 2010
- 7,109
- 113
I meant to post this in the "Trump" thread but since you mentioned Curiel, I'll post my thoughts on the Curiel ordeal here. On CNN a few days ago Michael Smirconish, an Attorney himself, said that there is a mechanism to request a judge to recuse himself. I don't recall the name of the mechanism, but if Trump believed that Curiel has a conflict of interest, why hasn't he instructed his lawyers to file it? If his Lawyers really believe that the judge has a conflict of interest, they'd be incompetent not to file it. So why hasn't Team Trump done that? My answer: To me, since I've heard of the lawsuit over Trump University I've thought TU sounds like a scam. I kinda think that Trump believes he will lose and is preparing his supporters with an excuse, that he lost because the judge was biased and not because he was running a scam.
I read an article today that posits two other reasons:
1. The motion to recuse would be certain to fail, because mere membership in an ethnic or religious group is not grounds for a judge's recusal.
2. The filing of any motion to recuse, and especially a baseless one, makes the lawyer filing it "radioactive" to that judge, a consideration if the lawyer intends to practice before him again.